X 6201 
046 
*opy 1 



ETTERS Concerning the 
Value of the Work of The 
'American Society for the 
' Extension of University Teaching 







w • 



ETTERS Concerning the 
Value of the Work of The 
American Society for the 
Extension of University Teaching 




Printed, 1903, by 
The American Society for the Extension of University 
iii south fifteenth street, philadelphia, pa. 



4-»b ' iVs Office. 



^ 



X 



\S^^ 



Xetter from iPresifcent Hrtbut XL. IHafcles 



YALE UNIVERSITY. 
President's Office. 

New Haven, Conn., November 22, 1902. 
My Dear Sir: — It gives me great pleasure to say that I 
have been most favorably impressed with the organization 
and work of The American Society for the Extension of Uni- 
versity Teaching. I regard the ends which it strives to 
promote as salutary, and the methods which it has adopted 
as in general well calculated toward securing those ends. As 
far as I can judge, it has had a more consistent record of use- 
ful work than any similar organization on either side of the 
Atlantic. 

Faithfully yours, 

(Signed) Arthur T. Hadley. 
Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 



Xettet from Dr. D. <L Oilman 



614 Park Ave., Baltimore, December 17, 1902. 

My Dear Mr. Brinley: — I duly received your note of De- 
cember 3rd, but I have been so much absorbed with other 
correspondence that I have not been able to give it the atten- 
tion it deserves. Moreover, I was quite confident that I 
should see you in Philadelphia during the recent meeting 
of the Civil 'Service Reform League. 

Having been familiar, more or less, with the work of The 
American Society for the Extension of University Teaching, 
since its organization, I believe it to be worthy of hearty en- 
couragement. The reports that you send me give abundant 
evidence of the great influence that the Society has exerted in 
the promotion of what may be termed "supplementary" edu- 
cation. It is clear that varied, accurate, and inspiring instruc- 
tion has thus been given to multitudes who would not have 
had access otherwise to anything like such excellent courses 
of lectures. I am sure that pleasure has gone hand in hand 
with study, and this is a good point incidentally gained. 

The term "University Extension" never seemed to me 
felicitous, but it has acquired its place and I do not know 
what better name could now be proposed. 

With sincere personal regard, I am. as ever 
Yours very truly, 

(Signed) D. C. Gilman. 



Xetter from ©resident Bav>t£> S. 3orfcan 



LELAND STANFORD, Jr., UNIVERSITY. 
Office of the President. 

Stanford University, Cal., December 12, 1902. 
Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 

1 1 1 South Fifteenth Street, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 
Dear Sir: — I wish to express my high appreciation of the 
work done by The American Society for the Extension of 
University Teaching. It has helped to raise the standards 
of literary taste and of general scholarship in a great number 
of communities and to lead the people to understand better 
the value and scope of higher education. I am sure that 
the Society and its work deserve the help and encouragement 
of all good citizens. 

Very truly yours, 

(Signed) David S. Jordan. 



Xetter from IPrestfcent Benjamin 1. Mbeeler 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
Office of the President. 

Berkeley, December 12, 1902. 
My Dear Sir: — Believing strongly in the advantages of 
University Extension, the University of California has this 
year organized its efforts in that field into a distinct De- 
partment of University Extension, under the direction of 
H. Morse Stephens, formerly professor of history in Cornell 
University, and now professor of history in this University. 
Professor Stephens has this year organized six centres in 
various parts of California, and has more than fifteen hundred 
auditors enrolled. It is hoped greatly to extend this work 
in the future, to organize a permanent staff of University Ex- 
tension lecturers, and to furnish opportunity for such work 
to any California community that may desire it. I shall be 
glad to talk with Professor Stephens about your work and 
to show him the very interesting data in regard to your 
courses which you have been so kind as to send me. 

Very sincerely yours, 

(Signed) Benj. I. Wheeler. 
Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 



Xetter from 'Hon. William G. Harris 



, BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 
Department of the Interior. 

Washington, D. C, December 2, 1902. 
Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 

President of The American Society for the 
Extension of University Teaching. 

Dear Sir: — I have looked over the syllabi of the several 
lecture courses of the University Extension Society, of which 
you are the head, and I admire very much the make-up of 
the different series from year to year. The figures of at- 
tendance seem to me very encouraging. 

I have from the beginning believed in University Ex- 
tension rightly managed. It should stimulate home work. 
I do not recall another series of lecture courses with so rich 
a list of lectures and lecturers as your own Society shows, 
and I hope that there will be no difficulty in continuing a 
work that has already done so much good and promises to 
do so much in the future. 

I return enclosures in order that you may use them 
elsewhere. 

Very truly yours, 

(Signed) W. T. Harris, 
Commissioner. 



Xetter from flQr. Jobn M. Converse 



BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS. 
Burnham, Williams & Co. 

Philadelphia, November 25, 1902. 
Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 

President of The American Society for the 

Extension of University Teaching. 
Dear Sir: — In response to your letter, I would say that 
as I have been familiar with the work of the American 
Society from its inception, I take pleasure in giving my 
testimony as to the value of what it has accomplished. 

Whilst the effort to extend University Teaching has 
been somewhat modified, there is no doubt but that the 
courses of lectures on historical, literary, and scientific 
subjects have been of great interest and have done much 
to stimulate study on the part of the communities in 
which the courses have been given. I regard the under- 
taking as one well worthy of public support. 

Very truly yours, 
(Signed) John H. Converse. 



Xctter from flMcbael )6. SaMer, nil.H. 

FELLOW OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD; FORMER SECRETARY OF THE OXFORD DELEGACY FOR 

THE EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING, EASTWOOD, 

WBYBRIDGE, SURREY, ENGLAND 



December 13, 1902. 

My Dear Sir: — I respond with great pleasure to the 
invitation contained in your letter of November 14th. 

For some years I have closely followed the progress 
of the work of The American Society for the Extension of 
University Teaching and, so far as one who is at a dis- 
tance from the scene of its operations can hope to judge, 
I am impressed by the thoroughness of its methods, the 
many-sided interest of its programs and the social value 
and importance of its labors. 

I believe that University Extension Teaching was never 
more needed than it is to-day, and that a future of in- 
creasing usefulness lies before all patient and well-organ- 
ized endeavor on the lines which your Society has made 
its own. One great feature of the period in which we 
live is the rapid diffusion of new knowledge and the open- 
ing up of convenient access to the classical sources of in- 
tellectual inspiration. The printed page can do much, but 
it cannot do everything. In all education we need the 
personality of the teacher and the power of the human 
voice. University Extension Teaching is the adjunct to the 
public library in the dissemination of culture. 

We live in a period of rapid social transition. All 
over the world the thoughts of men and women are 
agitated by a sense of impending change. Some con- 
clusions which they once held to be clear have been tem- 
porarily obscured by new knowledge. Many seem to 
have turned aside from studies (especially from those which 



Xetter from Hilicbael E. SaMer, flll.H, 

are economic, ethical, and political) which, at present, 
seem to them unable to offer final conclusions, in a suffi- 
ciently precise and definite form for the guidance of their 
immediate actions. Some who are thus affected by the 
intellectual atmosphere of our times seem to be seeking 
relief in amusement or in some form of mental distrac- 
tion. Others have been carried away by the rush of new 
interests and pleasures brought within their reach in a 
period of unexampled material prosperity. Again, a healthy 
reaction from superficial and pretentious half knowledge 
has deepened in many of the more sensitive minds the 
respect for scholarly specialization; but the same cause 
seems also to have unduly discouraged some from attempt- 
ing to maintain (so great is the pressure of modern life 
and so rapid the development of new knowledge) that 
wide range of cultivated attainment which a persevering 
use of University Extension Teaching would have brought 
within their reach. 

But, in spite of these difficulties, University Exten- 
sion Teaching steadily makes its way. It meets, in a 
form well adjusted to modern conditions, a deepening 
social need. A new social idea is gradually shaping itself 
in the public mind. The feverish pursuit of wealth for 
the sake of power and position cannot always continue to 
satisfy, as a life aim, many of those who, at present, are 
unduly under its influence. In some more stable form of 
social structure than that in which we at present live 
three things will, I think, be regarded as indispensable to 
rightly ordered human life: (i) Reasonable certainty of 

10 



Xetter f rom rmtcbael E. SaMer, nil-B. 



employment, throughout the working years of life, for 
those who are skilful at their task and industrious in 
discharging it; (2) application of the resources of science 
to the purifying and beautifying of the conditions of 
modern town life, with due regard to the upholding of 
the sense of communal unity and, at the same time, to 
the preservation of the privacy and individuality of home 
life; and (3) the abundant provision of education, of varied 
types, but of the finest quality, not only for those in 
childhood and adolescence, but for adult citizens. We have 
only touched the fringe of what might, and should, be 
achieved in the sphere of adult education for the masses 
of the people. In the national provision for adult educa- 
tion, University Extension Teaching is likely to bear an 
important part. Those who uphold its interests during 
these difficult years of social readjustment deserve well of 
the State and have a strong claim on the liberality of 
their fellow-citizens. 

Believe me, dear sir, 

Yours very sincerely, 

(Signed) Michael E. Sadler. 
Charles A. Brinley, Esq., 

Philadelphia, U. S. A. 



11 



Xetter from professor IRicbarfc <3. fllloulton 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 

In my judgment the true function of the university 
is being performed, in kind, though not in amount, by 
the great University Extension agencies, of which The 
American Society for the Extension of University Teach- 
ing is second to none. The actual universities are doing- 
splendid work; but, from pressure of circumstances, they 
are more and more changing into schools — law schools, 
medical schools, divinity schools, graduate schools. The 
university work of culture for its own sake, and not as 
a passport for entrance into special professions, is more 
naturally and healthily performed on the Extension plan, 
which extends a curriculum through a lifetime, instead 
of compressing it into three or four years. The reason 
why Extension agencies offer at present only a fraction of 
what a curriculum should be is that they are, practically, 
without endowment, whereas the smallest college relies 
on endowment for a great part of its cost. Exactly in 
proportion as an educational agency is endowed, it can 
regulate its work by purely educational considerations, with- 
out having to modify these in seeking popular attractive- 
ness. 

(Signed) Richard G. Moulton. 
December i, 1902. 



12 



Xetter from president Edmnnft J. James 



NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY. 

President's Office. 

Evanston, III., December 9, 1902. 

Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

My Dear Mr. Brinley: — I have followed the work of 
The American Society for the Extension of University 
Teaching with the keenest interest from its organization, 
more than ten years ago, to the present. For the first 
five or six years I had a very intimate knowledge of its 
work, and since that time I have taken pains to keep 
myself posted as to what it was doing by the examina- 
tion of its printed material and visits to its office and 
conference with its officers and friends, as well as with 
persons who were interested in it simply because of their 
attendance at lectures given under its auspices. 

I think this Society is doing a most valuable educa- 
tional work. To hold up continuously before any com- 
munity the ideal of systematic reading and systematic 
study, even if it be only for a fraction of one's time, is 
a very valuable educational service. When, in addition, 
an organization offers such an excellent series of lectures 
by university men who are not merely university men in 
the sense of having been in the universities, but are in- 
spired with the university spirit, and who have, moreover, 
qualified themselves to deliver their message in the most 
efficient way. a most valuable educational agency has 
been set at work in the community. The results of this 



13 



Xettev from president Edmund 5. 3ames 

work are visible in many different directions, and I do 
not believe that an equal sum of money could be better 
expended for the interest of popular education than the 
amount necessary to keep this agency at work. 

Faithfully yours, 
(Signed) Edmund J. James. 



14 



Xetter from Br. Bfcwarfc JSroohs 



DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE. 

Philadelphia, December 6, 1902. 
Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 

President of The American Society for the 
Extension of University Teaching. 

My Dear Sir: — I have watched the work of The 
American Society for the Extension of University Teach- 
ing in Philadelphia with great interest, and can give it 
my most hearty commendation and endorsement. It has 
opened the way to the study of literature, history, and 
social and economic questions to thousands of our people, 
and has been to them an intellectual stimulus to higher 
culture and attainments. It has thus carried the influence 
of the university into the home life of our people, and 
been the source of increased intelligence, and of that 
personal and social culture that inevitably flows therefrom. 
I trust that the good work of the association may not 
only be continued, but that its work in the future may 
be even more extended and far-reaching in its beneficent 

influences. 

Very truly yours, 

(Signed) Edward Brooks, 

Supt. Public Schools. 



15 



Xetter from Dr. Ulatbantel Butler 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 

November 25, 1902. 
Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 

President of The American Society for the 
Extension of University Teaching. 

My Dear Sir: — I have been examining with great 
interest some memoranda setting forth the work of The 
American Society for the Extension of University Teach- 
ing for the last ten years and more. I have been in a 
position during that time to appreciate, I think, at its full 
value the character of this work and its influence upon the 
communities where it is organized. I am seriously con- 
vinced that the educational value of this work is simply 
inestimable. It has, of course, become a truism among 
educators, and indeed among thoughtful people in general, 
that education is by no means to be confined to the 
early years of life spent in the schools, but that, con- 
sisting as it must of the constant enlightenment of the 
resources of the individual, it must be a life-long process. 
Whatever can be done to encourage and actually secure 
systematic intellectual life among adults, and to broaden 
continually their interest in the attainments of other men, 
which I take to be the purpose of culture, must receive 
the hearty approval of all who believe in education. I 
do not think it would be possible to know any agency 
that has done more in this direction to counteract the 
narrowing tendencies of our necessarily busy life than 
such work as conducted by the American Society. Proba- 
bly the doing of work that can be called university work 



[6 



Xetter from Dr. THatbaniel Butler 



is a thing not realized in this country to the extent that 
it is done in England in connection with University 
Extension work. It seems to me that the great value of 
this work lies in just what the Society possesses, — namely, 
to induce people to attend series of lectures by compe- 
tent men and women, and to read books recommended 
by those who are in a position to recommend intelligently. 
I have the honor to be, 

Sincerely yours, 

(Signed) Nathaniel Butler. 



17 



Xetter from professor Simon M. patten 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
The College. 

Finance and Commerce 
(Wharton School). 

Philadelphia, January 3, 1903. 

My Dear Sir: — I have followed the development of 
University Extension with great satisfaction. Even its 
failures have interested me, because they have shown the 
way to firmer ground. I have never lost confidence in 
the future of the American Society, and believe it is the 
beginning of a social institution of the first magnitude. 
Education is not merely for the young; it must continue 
as long as growth and vitality permit. 

Sincerely yours, 
(Signed) Simon N. Patten. 
To President Charles A. Brinlev. 



18 



Xetter from Dr. Hlbert Sbaw, Efcitor 



"THE AMERICAN MONTHLY REVIEW OF 

REVIEWS," 

13 Astor Place, New York. 

November 24, 1902. 
Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 

President of The American Society for the 
Extension of University Teaching. 

My Dear Sir: — I have been somewhat familiar from 
the beginning with the University Extension work ac- 
complished from the Philadelphia Centre, and have always 
been in the most cordial sympathy with it, believing in 
the usefulness of its method, in the breadth and sym- 
pathy of the spirit it has displayed, and in the value of its 
practical results as I have had occasion to know about them. 
I should think it cause for much regret if this American 
Society for the Extension of University Teaching should 
not obtain the support needed for the further growth of 
its admirable work. Believe me 

Sincerely yours, 
(Signed) Albert Shaw. 



19 



Xetter from Secretary IKHalter H. pagne 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 

Founded by John D. Rockefeller. 

The Extension Division. 

The Lecture-Study Department. 

Walter A. Payne, Secretary. 

Chicago, December 19, 1902. 
Mr. Charles A. Brinley, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 
My Dear Mr. Brinley: — It is my earnest conviction 
that no other educational work has been inaugurated ill 
the past twenty-five years to which can be traced di- 
rectly so much of value to the people as a whole as to 
the various forms of the University Extension movement. 
It is not difficult to trace those kindred movements. 
"School Education" and the Free Lecture movement, di- 
rectly to the influence which has been exerted by Uni- 
versity Extension lecturers and University Extension 
workers. Great credit is due the American Society as 
pioneer of this movement in America. The friends of 
popular education will hail with delight anything which 
tends to increase its scope and effectiveness. 

Very truly yours, 
(Signed) Walter A. Payne. 



Xetter from iRew xgman fl>. Powell 



ST. JOHN'S RECTORY. 

Lansdowne, Pa., November 29, 1902. 
Dear Nolen: — I am glad, of course, to say a word 
about the work of the American Society, and I hope I 
have a right to speak. I have been a lecturer, student, 
friend, promoter, organizer, and almost everything a man 
can be as to the movement. I have seen the work of 
the Society, inside and outside as well, and the work 
grows steadily in my estimation. It has touched every 
class. I know that from both observation and experi- 
ence. It has stimulated much of the widespread interest 
everywhere in evidence in every sort of education. It 
has contributed as has no other agency to the general 
acceptance of the concept, as strange fifteen years ago to 
all Americans as it is now familiar, that education is to 
last as long as life and is not for childhood alone. It 
has given pause in many a university and college to the 
snobbishness and pharisaism which have no rightful place 
in any institution, educational or otherwise, that claims to 
be democratic. It has helped to bind together and to 
make vertebrate our sometime disassociated and inverte- 
brate agencies for education from the kindergarten to the 
university. It has helped the clergyman who has given 
place to it among the activities of his church to elevate 
and dignify the life of his people and to substitute for 
village gossip that world gossip which is itself a mark 
of higher living and saner thinking. 

Ever yours, 
(Signed) Lyman P. Powell. 

21 



Xctter from /IDr. 3obn Thomson, ^Librarian 



THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA. 

John Thomson, Librarian. 

1 21 7-21 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

November 5, 1902. 

Dear Mr. Nolen: — The University Extension lectures 
undoubtedly increase the demand upon the Free Library 
for the books recommended by the lecturers and used in 
the study classes in connection with the lectures. 

Yours truly, 
(Signed) John Thomson, 

Librarian. 



22 



Xetter from fmr. Warren Snsfcer 

HEAD OF BOOK DEPARTMENT 



JOHN WANAMAKER. 
City Hall Square. 

Philadelphia, November 13, 1902. 

Dear Mr. Nolen: — Answering- your inquiry as to how 
the University Extension movement has affected the book 
business, I find it difficult to treat the subject specifically. 
Looking back, however, over the past ten years, I am 
sure that there has been a marked improvement in the 
taste of the book-buying public of Philadelphia, and I 
fully believe the improvement is due, in a large measure, 
to the work done by the University Extension movement 
in this city. For the last four or five years the demand 
for books recommended in the courses has been steadily 
growing, but the largest results to us came through the 
two courses given by Professor Griggs on "Dante" and 
"Goethe." 

The demand for the "Divine Comedy" and "Faust" 
increased a hundredfold, and did not end with the lec- 
tures, for a healthy interest in these two masterpieces 
has been sustained. In addition, the critical works on 
the "Divine Comedy" are so steadily called for that I find it 
necessary to keep on hand most of the books mentioned 
in Professor Griggs' syllabus. 

His course on Browning promises to be one of the 
most popular, judging from the increasing sale of the 
Cambridge edition of Browning. 

It is quite remarkable that these subjects should be 
so popular, as every bookseller must recognize the fact 

23 



letter from flilr. Warren Snsfcer 



that, while the reading public has grown so in the last 
decade, the demand for the standard poets has not pro- 
portionately increased. In these days of numberless maga- 
zines and sensational newspapers, both of which have a 
vitiating effect upon the taste, a movement which has 
been able to bring about such a healthy demand for two 
of the great poets, who had been practically relegated to 
the back shelves, should be heartily endorsed by all who 
are interested in the reading public, whether from a hu- 
manitarian or a business point of view. 

Yours very truly, 
(Signed) Warren Snyder. 



24 



Xetter from flDember of a xnntverstts Extension Committee 



PARSONAGE. 
630 North Broad Street, Philadelphia. 

I think so highly of the aims and work of The 
American Society for the Extension of University Teach- 
ing that I have accepted its educational program as no 
small part of my vocation. The six lecture courses which 
we had in Hagerstown, Md., proved beyond peradventure 
that University Extension offers the most charming and 
effective centres of social and intellectual life presented to 
the American people. I shall seek to organize such cen- 
tres of "light and leading" whenever and wherever the 
opportunity is presented. 

(Signed) , Edwin Heyl Delk, 

St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 



25 



Xetter from rmember of a Wni\>ersit£ Extension Committee 



Philadelphia, December 26, 1902. 
Mr. John Nolen. 

My Dear Sir: — In reply to your note concerning my 
opinion of the work of the Extension movement I would 
say: 

I am heartily in favor of anything that will awaken 
and foster a healthy interest in that which is wholesome 
and helpful in good literature, and that which will lead 
to more careful and studious reading of the masters in 
literature. 

The Society for the Extension of University Teach- 
ing has done excellent work in that direction with those 
who allowed their daily cares and duties to crowd out their 
higher intellectual interests. And with the younger gen- 
eration yet in school or just leaving it, in leading them 
to more critical and sympathetic reading of such works 
in sound literature of which as yet they only had a 
formal acquaintance. It has been my privilege and pleas- 
ure to watch the practical workings of the system in the 
Tioga Centre, which was formed several years ago. I 
am sure that there is a more intelligent interest taken in 
such matters by those who have been identified with the 
movement in the centre from the beginning, and that 
they feel more than repaid for the time and study which 
they have freely given. In particular they have profited 
by the "Study Class" in connection with the several 
courses of lectures, which has led to a class for study at 
other times. In awakening a literary interest and leading 
to associated and sympathetic studies, the courses of Uni- 
versity Extension lectures have brought forth good re- 
sults. Yours sincerely, 

(Signed) William L. Ledwith. 



26 



Xetter from member of a Tftntversits Extension Committee 



Norwalk, Conn., November 22, 1902. 
After a life spent, by natural inclination, in educa- 
tional work, — in the school, the public library, with popu- 
lar lecture courses and women's clubs, — this is my con- 
viction with regard to The American Society for the Ex- 
tension of University Teaching: An intimate experience 
with the Society for five years convinces me that it is 
one of the most valuable institutions of our time because 
of its appeal to the people who long for the opportunity 
to study, its thoroughness of method and the enthusiasm 
it awakens for the highest cultivation. 

(Signed) Dotha Stone Pinneo, 

Librarian Nonvalk Public Library. 
Sec'y Connecticut Federation of 
Women's Clubs. 



Xetter from a XHniversits Extension Stufcent 



Yours of the 5th inst. is received, and I gladly bear 
my small testimony to the value of University Extension 
as I have known it. f 

In reviewing the past eleven years of^my life, as I 
was at once led to do in response to your request, I was 
impressed with the comparative poverty of the residue 
if the whole Extension element, root and branch, were 
stricken out of them. To a teacher only too prone to 
trundle quietly along in the ruts of routine, every Exten- 
sion course opened a broader horizon or offered a fresh 
incentive for a larger grasp of familiar subjects. Reading, 
always a delight, but often desultory, became systematized 
and purposeful. Essay work demanded exercise of thought 
and effort for expression that were both a joy in them- 
selves and of positive value in dealing with pupils, for the 
teacher who does not lose the habit of definite mental 
activity will be likely to have a sympathetic insight into 
the difficulties and perplexities of younger minds. 

There are different ways of keeping in touch with 
live thoughts, of maintaining the efficient mental dis- 
cipline that we prize as the result of our years at school 
or college, but the most accessible for the majority of 
us is to become a life student in the university brought to 
our door. In the Extension lecturers we find able lead- 
ers, advisers, and critics; in almost any Extension course, 
material and suggestion for profitable study far beyond 
the possibilities of time that a busy life affords. 

The oft-repeated criticism of the superficiality of Uni- 
versity Extension work falls harmless on the student, for 
no one realizes more fully than he how little he can 

28 



Xetter from a 'Olniversitp Extension Student 



appropriate of the intellectual wealth of which he catches 
a glimpse now and again. But he knows it is there! 
That is something in a workaday world, and if the same 
door open a second time, how ready he will be for it! 
One does not shut one's eyes to every beautiful vista to 
be caught from an express train because one cannot stop 
to explore each one to the uttermost; nor does a reason- 
able person claim to know the whole country on such an 
acquaintance. 

As a student I am deeply grateful to University 
Extension; I owe a distinct debt to Mr. Moulton and 
Mr. Shaw, to Mr. Fis'ke and Mr. Griggs and many others, 
not only for the instruction I have had of them in their 
several departments, but also for the more subtle teaching 
of their personality, of their general attitude as exponents 
of culture. 

What I have said of myself I am sure is equally true 
of students who have come from the typewriter, from 
household cares, from clerical labors, from piano drill and 
from manual routine. The students who have been longest 
together have seen one another grow, and all look 
forward from the end of one profitable season with a 
certainty of expectation to the next. 

I have answered your question with a feeling that 
personal testimony might be worth more than generali- 
ties, and hope that I may have furnished you with one 
or two points that will be useful in your general estimate. 
December 7, 1902. 



29 



Xetter from a XHniversitp Bitension Student 



Your question is a rather large one, but to put the 
answer in a few words: We have found the Extension 
work invaluable as an inspiration to systematic reading 
and serious thought. Undoubtedly such a movement goes 
toward raising educational standards. The very character 
of the men who are engaged in this work is of utmost 
value. Indeed, this, I think, is one of its chief virtues 
As you know, we have had five -successive years of Ex- 
tension work, and without exception we have found the 
instructors men of inspiration and sterling worth. Such 
a work done by such men cannot help but be of vast 
importance. 

December 16, 1902. 



30 



Xetter from a Ulniversitg Extension Student 



The University Extension method of spreading learn- 
ing among those denied the privilege of institutional 
education is the most complete system I know of. 

First. It brings the student into personal contact 
with the teacher. The advantage from this is twofold: 
It does its own missionary work, while the correspondence 
school requires that the desire to learn be supplied by some 
other means. The enthusiasm of the lecturer is constantly 
bringing our students' club new members, and occasionally 
we get from this class of newcomers a good student, who 
pursues the work for its own sake. It also supplies more 
direct guidance than -the correspondence system can pos- 
sibly do. Not only may students receive suggestive com- 
ments on their written work as in the correspondence 
school, but the lectures serve to keep up the enthusiasm 
of students who are lukewarm or whose lives are so full 
of other duties that there is a constant temptation to drop 
their study, or of the more earnest students who grow dis- 
couraged by the difficulties of the problems set. 

Second. Its device of students' clubs under the care 
of the teacher gives to individual students the broadening 
effect of contact with other minds that enables such 
united effort to produce the best results. The student 
using the correspondence method must work out prob- 
lems alone, without the healthful corrective influence of 
comparing results with fellow-students; or if a club be 
formed, it is an arrangement separate and apart from 
the plan of the educational system and lacks its direction. 

December 8, 1902. 

31 



Xettet from a THni\>ersit£ Extension Student 



It is a pleasure for me to send my word of hearty 
approval and sincere gratitude for University Extension 
work and ways to me personally as an earnest student. 
University Extension means information given, primarily ; 
but it means in my judgment so much, so very much, 
more: It stands equally for inspiration to the individual 
student and a happy helpfulness to any who are willing 
to be helped. It is a movement standing for progress 
and growth, wide in scope and of a value quite impossi- 
ble to accurately estimate, but very real to experience. 
On the principle that "actions speak louder than words," 
I think no more brilliant example of the worth and work 
can be found in favor of University Extension than our 
own local student body, which, starting with eight mem- 
bers in June, 1900, has grown to more than fifty now. 

I am only sorry that my opinion as personal student 
and class student cannot be, in the nature of things, of 
much, if any, value. 

December 6, 1902. 



32 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 928 724 5 A 



